The Forgotten Sister

Mary Bennet's Pride and Prejudice

By: Jennifer Paynter

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

"Nobody turned my head with compliments. Nobody asked me to dance." An elegant accompaniment to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Jennifer Paynter’s The Forgotten Sister plucks the neglected Mary from obscurity and reveals her hopes and fears. Mary Bennet spends much of her time apart from her family, closeted in her room reading or playing her music, studying hard for accomplishments. As her four sisters become absorbed in their own romantic dramas, Mary stands apart, believing herself "not pretty enough" to dance with. She watches while Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley - and Mr. Wickham - waltz into her sisters’ lives, judging all three gentlemen quite dispassionately (and as it turns out, accurately). But Mary may not be quite so clear-sighted when she finally falls in love herself. She will first have to overcome her own brand of "pride and prejudice."

©2012, 2014 Jennifer Paynter (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved

not worth the time

I had hopes of this book; Pride and Prejudice from a new point of view. Instead it was a sad telling of an unwanted daughter undergoing a deep depression and a love interest from "the lower orders." It came up with heavy handed explanations for her moralizing (in one case she was drunk!), and a last chapter that I found tedious in the extreme. The narration was adequate. Don't waste your credit.

Really enjoyed

This is an enjoyable book. It follows Mary Bennett, the third child of Jane Austen's beloved story, Pride and Prejudice. In this tome u see the events of the original novel as seen thru the eyes of Mary. Plus you see what happens to her. I found her story engrossing and hard to put down. This novel enhances the original and let's you see all the original characters in a new and not always flattering light. I have a new found respect for Pride and Prejudice, and see The Forgotten Sister as a wonderful addition to world created by Jane Austen.

Piano forte'!

Lovely story, and a delightful performance. Well written characterizations and the storyline of persons on the outside of ODC romance.
Narrator has excellent voice and changes for all characters.
The only problem was the repeated pronouncing of piano forte' as piano fort., unfortunate in a story about Mary Bennett.

Good listen, very interesting.

Would you listen to The Forgotten Sister again? Why?

Pride and Prejudice is one of favorite books amd I've watched the movie about 100 times. Seeing things from a different perspective was great. The story of how things turned out for everyone was very interesting and intriguing. The one damper on the whole thing was the constant mispronunciation of piano forte.

What three words best describe Justine Eyre’s performance?

Her accent

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

That was not possible but I did find extra time to listen.

A Mary You've Never Met

I've often held Mary and Kitty in the same regard, finding both characters to be uninteresting. This book gave Mary a personality. Instead of pompous, her constant quoting now reveals itself to be the tool she uses in order to deal with social anxieties. This book redeemed Mary for me, making her every bit as interesting as Elizabeth.

A unique prospective

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Enjoyable and unique prospective of Pride and Prejudice through the eyes of Mary Bennet, one of it's most underdeveloped characters. I love how her story was interwoven with the original book to create a complexed and emotional journey as she to finds love! If you love Pride and Prejudice you will enjoy this book.

Good story

I normally stick to stories about ODC. But this was good. A bit hard to hear how Mary was treated though. But it was most likely so. Great Jaff

Good Story with Mispronunciations

This book retells the story of Pride & Prejudice from little sister Mary's point of view. It explains her bookishness, penchant for stuffy quotes and love of music with a doubtful voice. In P & P Mary is a caricature. This book fleshes her out and makes her human, gives her a love interest, hopes, dreams and fears. I found the e-book very enjoyable but have a few bones to pick with the narration. Mary plays the pianoforte, pronounced piano-fortay. The reader calls it a pianofort throughout the book and I doubt it was intentional as Mary, knowing French and some Italian with a musical background would know that forte is pronounced 'fortay'. The word is used so often that it began to get on my nerves as did other words mispronounced. The voice was fine with a variety of English accents for various characters, but Mary's educated voice failed because she became unbelievable to me.

Difficult premise

I am not sure why the author chose to disparage beloved Austen characters to make her story work. In that sense this book is very annoying to listen to. If the characters were not already know to me through Austen’s writing I would have judged the story ok, though a bit far fetched. The writing is good.

Great story!

This was such an enjoyable story! I don't know that even needed to be put on the frame of the Pride and Prejudice story. I loved Mary and could definitely relate to her awkwardness. It was a wonderful tale and an interesting look at the period. Her adventures were interesting and I really liked all the characters the author brought to life that were either simply mentioned in the original book or didn't even exist in Pride and Prejudice. Well written and well narrated.